Symbolism Of A Little Bird
by emmadotlouise
Summary: A bird flies free. They have the whole skies and can look down on us. No one cares what they think. They’re free, free to do what they want. An introspective look at the girl behind the face. Meiling Li. Angsty one-shot.


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This is one of my first attempts at a Meiling angst fic. I don't really write many one-shots... but there are a few things that I probably need to improve on. If you've got any tips for me to improve my writing, please by all means, let me know. Thanks. Review if you want to. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. CLAMP does.

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Summary: A bird flies free. They have the whole skies and can look down on us. No one cares what they think. They're free, free to do what they want. An introspective look at the girl behind the face. Meiling Li. Angsty one-shot.

Symbolism Of A Little Bird

The little canary chirped in his cage as his owner watched him with observing eyes. She breathed out a little sigh between slightly parted lips and the tiny bird's feathers ruffled with the exhaling of the breath. He let out a few notes from his quivering voice and whistled. The lips curved into a wry smile.

"I wish I were you, boy," Meiling said, sitting down until she was eye level with the bird. She stared endlessly into his bright black eyes, sparkling as the afternoon light hit it. The canary shivered a little, ruffling his feathers and inflating his chest so that he looked like a little fluffy ball of wool. The cat would certainly go for him then.

Meiling heard some footsteps come up behind her. She continued looking at the bird.

"Meiling, what are you doing?"

"Looking at my bird, Syaoran. That illegal?"

"Well... no, but Ma-ma wants to see you."

Meiling's head whipped around and she looked back at her cousin. He had come back to China for a few weeks on holiday and had been looking out for her. Meiling had overheard Yelan telling Syaoran that she had been a little out of it lately. Meiling hadn't been out of it, she had just been... thinking.

"Very well." Meiling picked herself up from the ground and took out her ties. Her long black hair fell to her waist in a silky curtain. She picked up the cage that contained her canary from where it was and held it at her waist. "Where is she?"

"In her room."

"OK."

Meiling gathered herself and walked through the house to Yelan's room, but on the way, she took time to see everything in this house that had been a part of her life for the past fourteen years. Her mother and father had died when she had been only one year old and her aunty had taken her in. She had grown up here. She never remembered anything else.

She saw pictures of herself and Syaoran fighting. They both had really come a long way since those days. They had both transferred over to Japan around the age of 10. It had been four years since she had last been there, but she remembered it as if it were yesterday. She had come in later than her cousin, probably about three months later. She had discovered that Syaoran and a girl named Sakura had been collecting the Clow Cards.

Meiling had never had any magical lineage herself, although she wished she did. She'd tried to capture cards herself, even tried to keep the Shot Card, when it didn't belong to her. The Shot Card had activated and gone after Syaoran, nearly hurting him. Meiling closed her eyes, she still hadn't forgiven herself for making such a stupid mistake like that.

Then she saw a portrait of Clow Reed. He was the one that had created the Clow Cards. Meiling was no direct descendent to Clow Reed, but she knew quite a bit about him and the Clow Cards. She'd been brought up learning all about them.

Syaoran had been the one given the sword. Of course he had, he was the one with magical powers, not Meiling. Meiling walked past the portrait of Clow Reed to see the one of the elders. They were the heads of the clan and made most of the decisions for the clan, but Syaoran's mother, Yelan had some strong influence in most of the decisions. She generally got her way. Next to Syaoran, Yelan was the strongest in the clan.

Then the next picture was Yelan. The strongest woman in the clan. Meiling had used to look up to her. Yelan had been her mentor. Had.

The next door down was Yelan's. Meiling paused outside it, her hand poised to knock when a serene voice floated through the door. 

"Come in, Meiling."

Meiling turned the doorknob slowly and opened the door. Beyond the door was her aunty, one that she had looked up to once, but that was before Meiling had gone to Japan. Now the only thing she looked up to was her canary. He was so carefree, how she wished to be like that.

Meiling was nearly able to be fully seen. But just as she was about to come into view, the door swung open. Meiling was looking into the serene face of her aunty. Something about those calm eyes made Meiling wince, not visibly though.

"I have to go," Meiling apologised and ran out of the room. She ran down the hallway and out of the house and didn't stop.

Syaoran looked out the window and saw his cousin run out of the estate. "Oh no..." he murmured.

His mother was beside him. "Go after her," were her words.

Syaoran nodded and vanished.

* * * * * Cliffs * * * * *

Meiling had set her canary down in front of her. She was sitting a few metres back from the edge of a cliff, watching the grey seas thunder against the cliffs, hearing the huge waves crash and swell. She could see grey clouds swirling in the sky. There was a storm coming. Within seconds, it had swept up onto the land, hard torrential rain pelting down to the land. The drops stung her bare skin.

Meiling covered the cage in her arms to prevent the canary from getting hit. It was singing, concerned. Meiling's eyes were shut tightly as she tried bearing the pain. She gritted her teeth. Listening to her bird's singing, she managed to open her eyes and smile down at it. Each raindrop felt like a knife penetrating her back. And then it stopped. A hand was on her back.

Meiling's eyes widened in surprise and she looked behind her. It was Syaoran, his hands were glowing gently and Meiling looked up to see a glowing dome over them. It was a shield, protecting them from the storm. "Syaoran..." she whispered. She tried blinking away the tears that were building up in her eyes, but to no avail, they streamed out. She threw her arms around him, sobbing. Syaoran hugged her, gently rocking her back and forth.

"It's ok, Meiling. Everything's going to be ok."

Meiling's canary sang joyfully, the sun was shining and the rain had stopped. Meiling pulled back from Syaoran's hug and managed a smile to her bird.

"He doesn't deserve to be not free," Meiling whispered. She opened the door to the canary's cage and the little bird jumped onto her hand. "Come on boy," she said quietly and lifted him up to her eye height. She stroked his feathers softly and whispered, "Do you want to be free boy? Can you take a message to heaven for me? Could you tell my parents that I'm still thinking of them, even though they're not here anymore?"

The bird chirped as if he was saying 'Yes'.

"OK, off you go boy," Meiling cried and threw her hand up.

The tiny bird flew off her hand and over the sea into the light.

Meiling leaned her head against Syaoran's shoulder, smiling as she watched the bird go. "Goodbye boy..." she whispered.

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The End.

It's done. That's the end of this one. See ya next time and if you want to see the status of any of my upcoming fics, check my bio page. My user id is 167786. 


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